The 2010 FIFA World Cup is the 19th FIFA World Cup, the premier international association football tournament. It is being held in South Africa, beginning on 11 June and scheduled to conclude on 11 July 2010. The tournament is the culmination of a qualification process that began in August 2007 and involved 204 of the 208 FIFA national teams; as such, it matches the 2008 Summer Olympics as the sports event with the most competing nations.

This is the first time that the tournament has been hosted by an African nation, with South Africa selected over Morocco and Egypt following a bidding process open only to African nations.

The defending champions were Italy who won the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Main article: FIFA World Cup hosts
Africa was chosen as the host for the 2010 World Cup as part of a short-lived policy, abandoned in 2007,to rotate the event among football confederations. Five African nations placed bids to host the 2010 World Cup:

Egypt

Libya / Tunisia (co-hosting)

Morocco

South Africa

Following the decision of the FIFA Executive Committee not to allow co-hosted tournaments, Tunisia withdrew from the bidding process. The committee also decided not to consider Libya's solo bid as it no longer met all the stipulations laid down in the official List of Requirements.

After one round of voting, the winning bid was announced by FIFA president Sepp Blatter at a media conference on 15 May 2004 in Zürich. South Africa, which had narrowly failed to win the right to host the 2006 event, was awarded the rights to host the tournament over Morocco and Egypt.

Voting Results

Country

Votes

South Africa

14

Morocco

10

Egypt

0

Tunisiawithdrew on 8 May 2004 after joint bidding was not allowed

Libyabid was rejected: bid did not meet the list of requirements and joint bidding was not allowed

During 2006 and 2007, rumours circulated in various news sources that the 2010 World Cup could be moved to another country. Some people, including Franz Beckenbauer, Horst R. Schmidt and, reportedly, some FIFA executives, expressed concern over the planning, organisation, and pace of South Africa's preparations. However, FIFA officials repeatedly expressed their confidence in South Africa as host, stating that a contingency plan existed only to cover natural catastrophes, as had been in place at previous FIFA World Cups

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
The qualification draw for the 2010 World Cup was held in Durban, South Africa, on 25 November 2007. As the host nation, South Africa qualified automatically for the tournament. As happened in the previous tournament, the defending champions were not given an automatic berth, and Italy had to participate in qualification.

Wikinews has related news: FIFA to make changes after Thierry Henry handball

Some controversies took place during the qualifications. In the second leg of the play-off between France and the Republic of Ireland, French captain Thierry Henry, unseen by the referee, handled the ball in the lead up to a late goal, which enabled France to qualify ahead of Ireland, sparking widespread controversy and debate. FIFA rejected a request from the Football Association of Ireland to replay the match,[8] and Ireland later withdrew a request to be included as an unprecedented 33rd World Cup entrant.[9][10] As a result, FIFA announced a review into the use of technology or extra officials at the highest level, but decided against the widely expected fast-tracking of goal-line referee's assistants for the South African tournament.[Costa Rica complained over Uruguay's winning goal in the CONMEBOL–CONCACAF playoff,[12] while Egypt and Algeria's November 2009 matches were surrounded by reports of crowd trouble.
On the subject of fair play, FIFA President Sepp Blatter said:

I appeal to all the players and coaches to observe this fair play. In 2010 we want to prove that football is more than just kicking a ball but has social and cultural value ... So we ask the players 'please observe fair play' so they will be an example to the rest of the world.[13]

List of qualified teams

The following 32 teams qualified for the final tournament.

AFC (4)

Australia

Japan

Korea DPR

Korea Republic

CAF (6)

Algeria

Cameroon

Côte d'Ivoire

Ghana

Nigeria

South Africa (hosts)

CONCACAF (3)

Honduras

Mexico

United States

CONMEBOL (5)

Argentina

Brazil

Chile

Paraguay

Uruguay

OFC (1)

New Zealand

UEFA (13)

Denmark

England

France

Germany

Greece

Italy

Netherlands

Portugal

Serbia

Slovakia

Slovenia

Spain

Switzerland

Countries qualified for World Cup finals Country failed to qualify for finals Countries that did not enter World Cup Country does not have a FIFA member association

This is the first World Cup that does not include any teams that are qualifying for the first time, although two of the qualifiers (Slovakia and Serbia) have previously appeared only as parts of former competing nations. Slovakia was previously part of Czechoslovakia, and Serbia has competed as part of Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro. In both cases FIFA considers these teams to have retained the earlier nations' records.

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In 2005, the organisers released a provisional list of twelve venues to be used for the World Cup: Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg (two venues), Kimberley, Nelspruit, Orkney, Polokwane, Port Elizabeth, Pretoria, and Rustenburg. This was narrowed down to the ten venues[14] that were officially announced by FIFA on 17 March 2006.

It is claimed that the altitude of several venues will affect the motion of the ball[15] and impact player performance,[16] although FIFA's medical chief has denied this.[17] Six of the ten venues are over 1200m above sea level, with the two Johannesburg stadia (Soccer City and Ellis Park) the highest at approximately 1750m.[18][19] The stadia in order of altitude are: Soccer City and Ellis Park Stadium, 1753m; Royal Bafokeng Stadium, 1500m; Free State Stadium, 1400m; Peter Mokaba Stadium, 1310m; Loftus Versfeld Stadium, 1214m; Mbombela Stadium, 660m; Cape Town Stadium, Moses Mabhida Stadium and Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium near sea level.

The Lukasrand Tower in Pretoria sporting a football in anticipation of the World Cup

Five new stadiums were built for the tournament, and five of the existing venues were upgraded. Construction costs were expected to be R8.4bn. (Just over $1.0bn.)
In addition to the stadiums built and upgraded, South Africa also improved its current public transport infrastructure within the host cities, including Johannesburg's Gautrain and other metro systems, and major road networks were improved.[36] In March 2009, Danny Jordaan, the president of the 2010 World Cup organising committee, reported that all stadiums for the tournament were on schedule to be completed within six months.
The country implemented special measures to ensure the safety and security of local and international tourists attending the matches in accordance with standard FIFA requirements,[38] including a temporary restriction of flight operation in the airspace surrounding the stadiums.
At a ceremony to mark 100 days before the event, FIFA president Sepp Blatter praised the readiness of the country for the event.Construction strike

70,000 construction workers[41] that were supposed to be working on the new stadiums walked off their jobs on 8 July 2009.[42] The majority of the workers receive R2500 per month (about £192, €224 or $313), but the unions allege that some workers are grossly underpaid. A spokesperson for the National Union of Mineworkers said to the SABC that the "no work no pay" strike will go on until FIFA assesses penalties on the organisers. Other unions threatened to strike into 2011.
The World Cup organising committee downplayed the strike and expressed confidence that the stadiums will be ready. However the strike was swiftly dealt with and workers were back at work within a week of it starting. The agreement meant that there were no further strikes and all stadiums and construction projects were completed in time for the kick off.

Prize money

The total prize money on offer for the tournament was confirmed by FIFA as $420 million, a 60 percent increase on the 2006 tournament.[46] Before the tournament, each participating team would receive $1 million, for preparation costs. Once at the tournament, teams exiting at the group stage would receive $8 million. Thereafter, the prize money would be distributed as follows:

$9 million – Round of 16

$18 million – Quarter-finals

$20 million – Semi-finals

$24 million – Runners up

$30 million – Winners

In a first for the World Cup, FIFA made payments to the domestic clubs of the players representing their national teams at the tournament. This saw a total of €26 million paid to domestic clubs, amounting to just over €1,000 per player per day.
This was the result of an agreement reached in 2008 between FIFA and European clubs to disband the G-14 group and drop their claims for compensation dating back to 2005 over the financial cost of injuries sustained to their players while on international duty, such as that from Belgian club Charleroi S.C. for injury to Morocco's Abdelmajid Oulmers in a friendly game in 2004, and from English club Newcastle United for an injury to England's Michael Owen in the 2006 World Cup.

The FIFA Organising Committee approved the procedure for the Final Draw on 2 December 2009. The seeding was based on the October 2009 FIFA World Ranking and seven squads joined hosts South Africa as seeded teams for the Final Draw. No two teams from the same confederation were to be drawn in the same group, except allowing a maximum of two European teams in a group.

The group draw was staged in Cape Town, South Africa, at 19:00 (UTC+02) on 4 December 2009 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.[61] The ceremony was presented by South African actress Charlize Theron, assisted by FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke.[62] The balls were drawn by English football star David Beckham and African sporting figures Haile Gebrselassie, John Smit, Makhaya Ntini, Matthew Booth and Simphiwe Dludlu.Referees

Main article: 2010 FIFA World Cup officials
FIFA selected the following referees to officiate at the World Cup:[64]